Work Gap Among Older Americans

Monday, October 2, 2017

College graduates are a big reason for the rising rate of labor force participation among people aged 65 or older, according to an Urban Institute study. Not only are college graduates more likely to be in the labor force than those with less education, but the labor force participation rate of older Americans is rising faster among the college-educated.

Labor force participation rate of people aged 65 or older, 2016

No high school diploma: 10.0% High school graduate only: 15.3% Some college/associate's degree: 22.0% Bachelor's degree or more education: 29.3%

Between 1995 and 2016, the labor force participation rate of people aged 65 or older with a bachelor's degree climbed 7.5 percentage points. This compares with a gain of 5.3 percentage points for those with some college, a 3.8 percentage point gain for those with no more than a high school diploma, and a 2.5 percentage point gain for those without a high school diploma.

“As economic security in old age increasingly depends on delaying retirement, less-educated older adults who retire early will likely face financial challenges in later life and fall further behind their better-educated counterparts,” notes the study.

More eNews

Friday, February 9, 2018

The number of workers aged 65 or older is projected to grow by an enormous 58% between 2016 and 2026, according to Bureau of Labor Force Statistics' projections. Older workers will account for the 51% majority of the overall 10.5 million increase in the...

Friday, February 9, 2018

The geographic mobility rate fell to a new all-time low in 2017, according to the Census Bureau. Only 11.0% of U.S. residents aged one or older as of March 2017 had moved in the previous 12 months. Not since 1960 have so few people moved (35 million)....

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Canadian Heating Products (Montigo), a leading Canadian designer and builder of commercial and residential fireplace products, is pleased to announce the appointment of Sharon Murray to the role of vice president of Business Development....

Friday, February 2, 2018

Acadia Hearth, LLC has been formed to offer new lines of hearth and outdoor living products exclusively to the specialty hearth market. The company is part of Acadia Holdings, Cheyenne, Wyoming, a capital investment firm formed by a group of investors...

Friday, February 2, 2018

Americans are moving at historically low rates. In 2017, 34.9 million Americans changed residences, translating to a household mobility rate of 10.9%. That’s the lowest mobility, or what we’ll also refer to as a “moving rate,”...

Reader Comments

Steve Pulone,

General Manager/VP Operations of O’Malia’s Living

Carmel, IN

Reasons for Reading Hearth & Home: “I get a good idea of what’s happening with other retailers. It helps to know others are hitting the mark, or if they are trying new ways to get more dollars in the door.”